Blind
by RosettaWuzHere
Summary: Oneshot for Mrs. Doctor Robert Chase's Monthly contest. Theme is 'death'. Takes place shortly after '100'. Minor spoilers for that episode.


**This is for a contest. Theme is 'death'. This takes place shortly after the episode '100'. Reviews aren't a necessity for this story but if you do than I love you! Enjoy! **

Morgan elbowed Reid lightly, causing him to spill his coffee. Before he could ask _what was that for_, Morgan asked,

"Hey, you seen Hotch?" Reid flicked the coffee off his hands and shook his head. Morgan continued, "I can just imagine him asleep in his new apartment. He has a right to sleep in after everything, though." Reid smiled and replied,

"Somehow I doubt Erin will see it that way." Morgan laughed and slapped him on the back, spilling his remaining coffee.

* * *

J.J. sat on the jet, tapping her foot and pretending to read the plane's copy of _Murder on the Orient Express_. Emily flopped into a chair beside her, rubbing her eyes. J.J. smiled kindly.

"Late night?" she asked sympathetically. Emily nodded.

"Tell me about it. What kind of horrible person kills on a long weekend?" Emily replied grumpily, shifting in her seat. J.J. put down the book and turned to Emily.

"Do you know where Hotch is?"

"No, I-wait there he is. I thought I looked worse for wear." Emily said to J.J. from behind her hand. A very tired looking Hotch stepped into the plane. His eyes looked red. When he passed J.J.'s seat he stumbled and she stood up to help him.

"J.J., I can walk." he said, pushing her hand away. He sat down in front of Reid, who was examining him closely. Hotch faked a smile and attempted conversation. "I, uh, got the new apartment set up." he said gingerly. Reid smiled encouragingly at him.

"You got a new apartment? Is it nice?" Reid asked, trying to keep the dying conversation going.

"Yeah, yeah it's..nice." Hotch concluded, staring out the window. Morgan pulled out his file folder and began to shuffle through the papers.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Morgan said to the group, all of which began rummaging through their briefcases.

About fifteen minutes later, Reid noticed the paleness of Hotch's skin.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked timidly, flinching in anticipation at the sharp reply that was sure to come. Instead, Hotch wiped his forehead.

"Actually, I'm not-I'm-" Hotch began to cough and Reid bent down to to support him. Emily ran over and took his other arm as he coughed loudly, his entire body convulsing. J.J. ran for the first aid kit. When she came back, there was blood at the corner of Hotch's mouth. She dabbed at his mouth, but there was really nothing she could do. Hotch stopped coughing. Morgan crouched to his level. Hotch's body was bent in agony.

"Can you hear me? Dammit, Hotch!" Morgan spat angrily, trying to get a response. Hotch lay over two seats. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Emily's hand.

"Where...where's Jack?" he asked, trying to lift his head. Emily pushed it back down. "Tell him..tell him I love him. You'll do that for me?" A tear slid down her cheek. Hotch turned to Reid. "You...asked about my apartment. It's a nice..it's.." He never finished. His hand slackened, and fell from Emily's.

Reid buried his face in J.J's hair. Morgan punched the seats and Emily walked over to the laptop, where Garcia was yelling for someone to tell her what was going on. Emily told her, then instructed her to call for emergency response at the airport, and to call Rossi, who was on vacation.

* * *

At the BAU, all the team members were on edge. They couldn't go home and leave this case, they weren't aloud to investigate and everything here reminded them of Hotch. Reid sat on the couch, a contemplative expression etched on his face. In a split second, his face changed and he took out his cellphone and made a call. Then he read over the coroner's report, even though he remembered every word.

"Morgan." he began, feeling unsure of himself. "The coroner's report said that the poison was administered yesterday afternoon." Reid said gently, trying not to imply anything.

"Yeah, so?" Morgan said, not looking up from his game of minesweeper.

"Well, I have a theory. I need you to tell me I'm wrong." Reid said, motioning with his hands.

"Okay, I'm listening."

"You said that you hadn't seen Hotch since Friday, in f-fact none of use had seen him since Friday because it was a weekday-" Morgan cut him short.

"What are you getting at? Because I've read the files already, Reid." Reid took a deep breath and said it outright.

"Morgan, how did you know that Hotch had bought a new apartment if you hadn't seen him since Friday? Y-you must have seen him yesterday, the day he bought it, because none of us knew about it. Hotch just told me about it on the plane." He explained nervously. Morgan frowned and stood up.

"Kid, you have got serious guts to suggest that _I_ killed Hotch. I thought we meant more to each other than that. Besides, I didn't know about his apartment!" Morgan yelled jabbing his chest. Reid suddenly became angry too.

"Derek! You _did _know. Remember? You said, '_I can just imagine Hotch in his new apartment'_. How could you possibly know? Unless, you saw him yesterday. Come on, Morgan. You know that they always get caught. If you're innocent. Tell me." Reid pleaded. Morgan walked away and ran his hands over his scalp before thrusting them downwards.

"Mmph! I was this close!" he said, motioning with his index finger and thumb. "I just-I didn't want to hurt him-but I did-" The entire team was watching now. Garcia's eyes were wet. Emily walked over to where Morgan stood.

"Just tell us everything." she whispered, rubbing his shoulder. Morgan shrugged her away, pain showing in every facet of his face.

"He invited me over last night. To his new apartment. He told me that Erin let him stay on, and thanks for being chief when he couldn't." Rossi walked over, his eyes dark.

"You...he trusted you!" Rossi said, struggling against J.J., who was restraining him. At this, Morgan frowned, obviously feeling the pain of what he had done.

"Then I knew...I knew that if he could kill a man, and keep his job, I would never get my chance. I'd be second in command forever. I couldn't let it happen. It was so easy..he had the right pills in his bathroom and I-" his voice cracked. The local police department's sheriff and deputy stepped out from behind the wall. Garcia ran up to Morgan as he was being pulled away.

"Why? I don't understand!" Garcia sobbed to him.

"I did for us, baby. It was gonna be just like we always dreamed it would be." he replied, smiling into the distance. Garcia turned away, unable to look at him. Behind her, Reid was explaining how he remembered.

"He mentioned his apartment his dying moments, I knew it had to be important. I imagine there will be more proof there, not that we need it." he continued. Emily examined him. He had a starry look on his face. She suddenly felt hurt, as if Reid had dealt her a blow to the gut. He was still talking.

'...I don't know why they tell me these things, Gideon, Hotch.." Emily became angry.

"He didn't tell you because he like you any better than the rest of us. He didn't feel that way!" she was surprised to find herself yelling. J.J. had stopped to listen in, a concerned look on her face. Reid's brow furrowed angrily.

"How do you know that?" he asked defiantly. Emily suddenly regretted what she had said earlier. She could now see the same hurt reflected in his eyes.

"Reid, don't do this to yourself." she said quietly. Reid flinched away from her as he realized what she was saying.

"You and Hotch..?" he asked feebly. Emily nodded. Suddenly J.J. slapped Emily. Emily hadn't seen her angry like this before.

"Even when he's dead it has to be all about you, Emily! It didn't matter that the rest of us already knew about your not-so-secret affair. You had to enlighten Reid, too! Don't you understand? This..idolization was how he was coping with the grief!" You so insensitive-" J.J. was yelling at Emily, who now felt sick.

"I thought everybody knew. He was just claiming Hotch to himself. I mean, how could he not have known?" Emily said cutting off J.J.'s rant. J.J. leaned into Emily, her eyes alight with anger.

"In case you haven't noticed Emily, love is blind." J.J. replied in Emily's ear, before stalking away. Reid ran to the washroom to hide his tears. Emily felt dizzy and headed towards the elevator, that phrase running around and around in her head.

"_Love is blind."_


End file.
